Week 9 Mountain West Conference notebook: Mountain Division capsules

For the first time since the season opener, Air Force's choice at quarterback will be dictated by merit rather than circumstance.

Karson Roberts returned to practice on Monday, so coach Troy Calhoun and his staff must choose between the sophomore and freshman Nate Romine, who appeared in relief in the previous game and nearly led the Falcons to a victory over San Diego State.

"We'll see who practices best the next two days, just because Karson did not practice last week," Calhoun said.

Roberts had been sidelined with a concussion since the first quarter of the game on Oct. 10 against the Aztecs.

His departure marked the latest in a string of bad fortune at the spot for the Falcons, starting with the loss of Kale Pearson to a knee injury in the season's first half and the ineligibility of backup Jaleel Awini late in September.

This will be the first time that the Falcons will enter a game with a backup who has seen game action other than mop-up time.

Next game: vs. Notre Dame, 2 p.m. PT Saturday (CBS Sports Network)

Notable: Air Force appears refreshed coming off an open week following a stretch in which it played three games in 12 days in three time zones. The Falcons lost all three of those. .... RB Jon Lee (elbow) and LB Spencer Proctor (concussion) are expected to return.

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-- Brent Briggeman, The Gazette (Colorado Springs)

BOISE STATE

Junior Grant Hedrick on Friday will become the first Boise State backup quarterback to start a game because of injury in 11 years.

Hedrick, who took over on the second offensive snap last week against Nevada, will face BYU. He replaces senior starter Joe Southwick, who likely will miss at least three games with a broken right ankle that required surgery.

Hedrick provides a different dimension than Southwick, whose strengths are his command of the offense and accurate passing. Hedrick is a dynamic runner.

"We'll always cater toward the guy back there's strength, but it will be tweaks here or there," coach Chris Petersen said. "It's not going to be a brand-new offense."

Hedrick was 18 for 21 for 150 yards with an interception in the comeback, 34-17 defeat of Nevada. He rushed eight times for 115 yards and two touchdowns -- the first 100-yard rushing game by a Broncos quarterback since 2004.

Hedrick led the Broncos to touchdowns on five of their last six full drives. They rushed for 407 yards, including a 222-yard outing by sophomore tailback Jay Ajayi.

"Great credit to Grant," Petersen said. "That's just not an easy position and when you're not preparing all week like it is your show, that's a hard thing to be put in. We've said all along, Grant is a good player, and he is, and he showed it."

The Broncos went 4-0 with backup quarterback B.J. Rhode in 2002, when starter Ryan Dinwiddie had a broken ankle. The only other time that a backup has started since then was in 2008, when Bush Hamdan took the first series on Senior Day.

Southwick could return in time for his own Senior Day, which is Nov. 30 against New Mexico.

"He is in good spirits," Petersen said. "He wants to get back as soon as possible. That's his whole mission."

Next game: at BYU, 5:06 p.m. PT Friday (ESPN)

Notable: Boise State's defense has allowed just 40 points in the past three games. The Broncos shut out the Wolf Pack in the second half. ... The Broncos have two healthy, scholarship quarterbacks left -- Hedrick and redshirt freshman Nick Patti. ... DE Demarcus Lawrence set a national high with his 3.5 sacks against Nevada. ... The Broncos have won 50 straight games in October.

-- Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman

COLORADO STATE

Jim McElwain doesn't want to make too big a deal about the difficulties of playing at Hawaii.

The second-year Colorado State coach never has done it before, and neither have his players.

But he hopes his plan to follow their usual routine this week will keep his Rams (3-4, 1-1 Mountain West) focused on the Hawaii team they're going up against and not on the 7- to 8-hour plane trip across four time zones to Honolulu for Saturday night's game against the Rainbow Warriors (0-6, 0-4) or the 10 p.m. MDT starting time. CSU hasn't played at Hawaii since 1996.

"This is a business trip," tight end Crockett Gillmore said Monday. "We're there to play a football game, and (players) know that."

The Rams, McElwain said, held some workouts this summer under the lights at Hughes Stadium at 11 p.m. to help prepare for this game. And they won't fly to the islands until Friday, leaving campus at mid-morning after going through their usual Friday morning meetings and walk-through. The only difference is they'll spend most of the day on the chartered plane from Denver to Honolulu, with a stopover in California to refuel.

Strength coach Mike Kent will get the players up for exercises, one position group at a time, every 45 minutes or so to keep them loose during the flight, McElwain said, suggesting that they'll even be running windsprints in the aisles.

"I'm a little worried about the counterbalance on the plane when some of those linemen get up," McElwain said. "It should be OK, but I feel sorry for those stewardesses."

McElwain said he'll also relax his travel dress code for this trip, allowing players to forego the usual coat and tie for their team warm-up suits.

Otherwise, the routine will be the same as it is for any other road game, McElwain said.

"I know that the travel over, you can use it again as an excuse as to maybe why you don't play to your fullest," McElwain said. "How we handle it will be part of the growing experience and see if we're mentally capable of taking the distractions and understanding what kind of business trip we're going on here."

CSU has yet to win a true road game under McElwain, going 0-5 over the past two seasons in games they've had to travel to by plane. They stayed at a hotel in Fort Collins this past Friday night before making the 65-mile bus trip to Laramie, Wyo., where they beat Wyoming 52-22. They also were technically the road team for the 2012 season opener in Denver against the University of Colorado, which they won 22-17.

Next game: at Hawaii, 9 p.m. PT Saturday (MW Digital Network)

Notable: CSU has yet to win back-to-back games under McElwain, who is 7-12 in his two seasons. The first of his team's three home wins in MW play -- with road losses in between -- late last season was a 42-27 win over Hawaii. ... Senior Shaq Bell, who plays both cornerback and safety, pulled a muscle in his left leg during the first half of Saturday's game at Wyoming and did not return. He's listed as "day-to-day" this week, McElwain said. ... CB Bernard Blake, who was ejected on a questionable targeting call late in the first half at Wyoming, sat out the second half and won't have to miss any time at Hawaii because of the violation.

-- Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan

NEW MEXICO

Next game: Nov. 2 at San Diego State

UTAH STATE

After a punishing eight weeks of football, getting a bit of rest sounds pretty good to the Aggies.

It's a light week on tap for Utah State, with younger players getting more reps in practices as some of the veterans get rest.

"We've got a bunch of guys who have played 300, 400, some of them 500 snaps in the last eight weeks, plus three and a half weeks of training camp," coach Matt Wells said Monday. "A lot of these games were extremely physical. We need to be smart and get some work in, get some lifting in, and get some conditioning in."

For 4-4 Utah State, the hope of the season hasn't met the reality. The Aggies are still a step behind Boise State in the Mountain Division race. But finally winning a football game helps the program find its footing for a well-timed week of rest before its final four games.

The defense looked on-point for the first time in weeks, holding New Mexico to just 58 yards in the first three quarters of a 45-10 win. The injury-riddled offense was rejuvenated behind a strong running game and an effective performance under center from freshman Darell Garretson.

Even the Aggies' special teams got in on the scoring, as Jojo Natson returned a punt for a touchdown and punter Jaron Bentrude found a lane to run for a 72-yard score on a called punt.

The Aggies are still looking for sustained success, but hope is growing in Logan that they can rebound for a strong finish to the season with some of their goals intact.

"Wins heal a lot of hurt and heartache," Wells said. "I think it gives us a great outlook and perspective of where we're at right now. It gives us confidence as we go into a bye week that the plan, although a bit revised, is succeeding and it's working."

Next game: Nov. 2 vs. Hawaii

Notable: Quarterback Chuckie Keeton had knee surgery on Tuesday to address his season-ending injury he suffered against BYU. His recovery is expected to take eight months. ... Natson was named the special teams player of the week for his punt return touchdown. He nearly had another in the game, but it was called back on a penalty. ... Bentrude's special teams run ended up being controversial. Wells offered that he had not called a fake, but his punter had simply seen an opportunity to run: "I understood the complexity of the game and where we were. We were just trying to punt the ball. I can't apologize for trying to punt it and the kid doing what he was supposed to do. I was a little surprised by the final outcome of it, but I'm not going to ask a kid to not compete. He needs to trust what he's been coached to do."

-- Kyle Goon, The Salt Lake Tribune

WYOMING

The Cowboys gave up 509 yards -- 290 rushing and 219 passing -- in their 52-22 home loss to Border War rival Colorado State last week.

One of the big reasons why, coach Dave Christensen said, was mental errors.

"About 80 percent of the errors were alignment errors," he said.

"It's our responsibility as coaches to have our players aligned properly. It's also our responsibility to prepare throughout the week so they can do that."

Wyoming (4-3 overall, 2-1 MW) gave up its most points to its rival since the 1920s, and its rushing defense continues to drop as it is 117th out of 123 FBS teams (246.9 yards per game).

The meat of the Cowboys' schedule begins this week as they play at San Jose State (3-3, 2-1) on Saturday. Four of their last five opponents are .500 or better, and three of those games are on the road.

San Jose State averages 327.5 passing yards per game and is coming off a bye week after it won at Colorado State 34-27 on Oct. 12.

Christensen's high-tempo offense was stuck in first gear last week as the starters scored just 14 points and had a season-high three turnovers.

"We just need to execute better," said junior quarterback Brett Smith, who threw two interceptions against CSU for the first time in 15 games dating back to early last season.

"It shows us that we're going to have to kick it into overdrive and prepare even harder than have in the past."

Notable: San Jose State senior quarterback David Fales walked on at Wyoming in the summer of 2011 for about a month but left before fall camp started. Fales has family in Torrington, Wyo. ... Junior starting strong safety Darrenn White (shoulder) will have season-ending shoulder surgery this week. White was injured Oct. 12 against New Mexico. He had 28 tackles and a team-best two forced fumbles. ... Wyoming listed three positions as "or" in terms of starters this week. At center it's between sophomore Rafe Kiely and junior Albert Perez, at strong safety it's juniors Jesse Sampson and Chad Reese and at strong-side linebacker it's Mark Nzeocha and sophomore Malkaam Muhammad. Christensen said injury or illness have nothing to do with the competition, and the starters will be based on how they practice this week. ... The Cowboys are last in the nation in time of possession (24:31 per game).

-- Robert Gagliardi, Wyoming Tribune Eagle

This notebook is compiled and distributed by newspaper beat writers throughout the Mountain West Conference.